Big Weekend

This year Radio 1 decided to hold their annual free festival (which replaced the Roadshows of yesteryear) at Lydiard Park in Swindon. Cue much excitement and me applying for tickets in the ballot they hold in order to give all the tickets away. It's all done randomly but is weighted in favour of people who live in the locality and happily we got two tickets :)

It was held last weekend and was really the ideal festival - we walked there, the weather was

lovely, we saw lots of good acts, bumped into lots of people we know who also got tickets and then got a cab home and could have a nice hot shower and sleep in our own beds. This beats the normal festival experience of returning to a wet tent rammed in with thousands of other tents too close together and having to queue for stinky portaloos at the end of the day! It was quite odd being in a field with 10,000 other people when quite frequently on a Saturday afternoon we take Saffy for a walk there and there's just the 3 of us in the same field.

The best acts we saw were The Wombats and Dizzee Rascal and really, for free, it was an excellent event and the BBC should take a lot of credit for putting it all on. Although programmes did cost £6 which we thought was quite steep.

And this was also a nice day out for Carl and I as last Monday he was sent to the Middle East for an indefinite amount of time and will sadly miss Kieran and Alice's wedding, as well as two other weddings we have to go to in the next few weeks. It was all very last minute and very disrupting so the RAF are not my favourite people at the moment needless to say :(

Here's Carl with one of the very over-priced programmes.

Me looking suitably excited before we went in :)

The main stage.

Kasabian playing the main stage who were unfortunately a bit disappointing live.

Love Kate xxxx

You can rely on the film critics

Whilst idly looking through the Sunday Times TV review for this week I happened to see the following brief review of Back to the Future Part 3 (showing today on ITV2):

"Marty is transported back in time to the Wild West, where he tries to save his scientist friend from a villain. Disappointing"

Didn't think too much about that until I reached next Saturday, and lo and behold, Back to the Future Part 3 is on again (still ITV2), but the review is now:

"Marty McFly is transported back to the Wild West, where he tries to save Doc Brown from being killed by a villain. Superb"

Clearly it improves with more viewing....................

Memories

Mike has tapped some of Peggy's memories but can't remember how to blog.
Here they are:
Peggy was talking about their time as teenagers. When she was 19 and our mother was about 16, things were tight. They and their Mother (Little Granny) were living in one room over the hairdressing salon which LG operated. They all three shared it during the day, there was a kitchenette alcove of sorts and a sit up bathtub behind a curtain (a loo wasn't mentioned. LG slept in the salon downstairs and the two girls slept in this room.
The main entertainment was the Saturday night dance at the town hall at which the girls all sat in a row and the males all hovered round the entrance. Periodically one would get up the courage to go over and ask a girl for a dance. Peggy said she was quite popular as she was a good dancer, but had to persuade her suitors to have a dance with her younger sister because she was a bit of a wllflower. Peggy said it was because she was only 16.

Also our Ma went to boarding school in Morecombe Bay for a number of years.

Curioser and curioser

.

We have just spent a weekend in York making the most of the city before Erin graduates We wined and dined and had an excellent experience. But we had many a surreal happening during our stay.
The first thing we were determined to do was have tea at Betty's which we have been meaning to do for some time. We were prepared to queue, that's how determined we were! Success and cakes and lovely tea were ours

As we were drinking our tea I pointed out two men on the street who looked as if they had been beamed up from the 1950s. One looked a bit like Trevor Howard in Brief Encounter or Inspector Gadget. The other looked like a french man in a film wearing a beret.
(OK that is a dog in a beret that I thought looked cute on Google images)
Anyway, the two of them came into Betty's too. We thought no more of it until dinner at the restaurant that evening when the Inspector Gadget one walked past us about two times. Also a team of young men with bleached blond hair also passed our restaurant several times. They were from all over the globe Asian, Afro Caribbean, Sub Continental European - but all with blond hair! Erin seemed quite calm about this explaining that they were part of the war of the roses!
On Saturday we went to Castle Howard, which is very lovely and I have always meant to go to having seen Brideshead Revisited. When we were touring the house who appeared again but Inspector Gadget and Monsieur Beret! Now it was getting a bit spooky. We determined that we would try to photograph them by one of us standing in front of something attractive but actually take a shot of them - but it was not to be. However, when we went to tea in the stable courtyard an identical pair of twins dressed exactly the same who were in their 50s appeared. Really, it was all getting rather Don't Look Now.
On the Sunday as we walked into town we came across City dignitaries processing thought the street for no apparent reason. Then after lunch we found religous people with crosses processing through the street for no apparent reason. All quite bizarre and to top it off as we left the city a brass band was playing the Monty Python theme tune.

Brian on the move

Brian is getting a different house at College. As he is in a 3 bedroom house and the kids are all grown up he doesn't really need 3 rooms, so he is moving to an old cottage. However to enable them to renovate his house - which hasn't been renovated for decades and really needs it - they want him out by 1 june. This is a bit tricky as we aren't going to be here then, we are going to be in Northumberland on holiday.

Clearing the college house out was always on the cards before he retires next year as he has to reduce the amount of stuff he has in 2 houses down to 1 house, but we were expecting a bit more time to start the thinning process. However from the airing cupboard alone we have 5 bags of stuff going to the Dog's Trust for dog bedding, and 3 bags of stuff going to the `charity shop. He has already done a trip to the skip and the rubbish piles are growing.

There are some things that won't fit into the new house - a couch, bed etc, but the question is what to do with with pianos. In the cottage he has a small modern upright. In the college house he has a boudoir grand (v small grand piano). I have a very old (very out of tune) old upright which Kate is supposed to be having sometime. So what we have to do now - in the next couple of weeks - is measure the boudoir grand to see if we can fit it into the cottage. If we can then that will be moved down there and the little upright moved to the college house. The when he retires next year Kate will have to take the old upright so that the little upright can move to my house. This doesn't sound too bad, unless you have tried to move a piano. They are VERY HEAVY!!!. They are also very awkward to get round corners etc, and you can't drop them because although they are very big, they are also fairly delicate.

The other thing I find very amusing is the address. It is called North Lodge, it is in West Drive, and lots of places still call the county South Glamorgan. If Brian changes his name to East then he'd have all the points of the compass in his address.

A month in Spain???

A passing question

We (the Spanish/Canadian Carters) are heading to Canada for the summer. The girls and I from June, and Xavier from Aug 7th-ish till we all come back around the 6th of Sept.

We are trying to figure out what to do with the dog, and I am wondering if any dog-lovers over there would like to come and live for free outside of BCN for a month in exchange for dog-sitting.

Would anyone be interested?

We are not sure if this is the way we will go, we would like to take him over with us, but if this would be of interest to anyone, please let us know.

Cheers

The Spanadians.

A and K's romp in London

Alice and Kieran here, yesterday we headed to London to see Laura's (Alice's sister) art on display at the R.K. Burt and Co gallery. Sadly, when we arrived...It was shut! Not only that, but there were shutters over the window, so we couldn't even peek at it! Not ones to be deterred, we decided to go for a lunch at tas, where Alice attempted to get a picture of me looking natural
With mixed results... Still, the food was good, and fun was had. Next we headed to Hamley's, a world of wonder, to which Alice had never been before! Determined to cure this woeful gap in her childhood, I proceeded to lead her around the entire shop, although I had some difficulty getting her away from the teddy bear section...


Hamley's is a marvelous place, although not cheap- you can get replica wands from Harry Potter! I was quite tempted by Lord Voldemort's wand, but managed to resist (mainly because it wasn't particularly cheap!). I could also have bought the one ring from LOTR, clearly I missed a trick with the engagement ring!

Disturbingly the teddy bear section was not immune to these bizzare excesses, boasting as it did a teddy bear with diamond eyes! It was horrifying, yet strangely alluring.

Alice decided that we could not leave Hamley's without having bought something, so we decided to purchase some wind up toys to race. I chose a mouse, and alice chose a tortoise. Mine was clearly more stylish, as you can see



Sadly, the results of our race were... less than impressive, as we had failed to test our items properly in the store:



Having fully explored Hamleys, Alice, ever full of energy, decided we should go to the rather more serene St Paul's Cathedral, as her grandpa used to have offices which overlooked it.



With that explored (no photos taken inside, of course, for we were banned) briefly (we were kicked out at 6), we headed home, satisfied with a full day, even if we had failed to do what we had actually come to London for! There was one final pleasure upon arriving home, as Alice had also decided to purchase bopit! Footage of her valiantly... bopping... below.

Children,s books

Lists! I love them and when they are lists compiled by experts listing the top 10 of whatever their chosen field is I love them even more. Largely, so I can be outraged by them and feel myself to be morally and intelectually superior. This week all the children's laureate's listed what they considered to be the top five children's books. I can see that JK Rowling and Philip Pullman haven't been round long enough to see how they age. I am very surprised that Roald Dahl isn't included and I would seriously question whether Oliver Twist is suitable for children at all! However on the whole these books reflect the authors' favourite books from their childhoods. So after some thought I have decided to list my favourite books from my childhood( I think - I might change my mind)
The land of Green Ginger by Noel Langley
Jennie by Paul Galico
Black Beauty Anna Sewell
The horse and his boy by C.S Lewis
The House at Pooh corner A.A. Milne

So what are other people's favourites?

Southampton

Hello. We have just returned from an excellent weekend in Southampton visiting Kieran and Alice. The weather was good and the company excellent.
We went for a walk around Southampton Common and Southampton Old Cemetry. This is huge and has been left to grow quite wild in parts. I think deliberately to encourage wild life. It is very atmospheric and would make a fantastic location for film or TV. Some of the grave have trees growing up from them.



While we were walking round it we saw the grave of somebody who had been struck by lightening. Kieran instructed us on what to do if you were caught in an electric storm. He then instructed us on how to survive a Zombie attack. I'm hoping that I never have to put either of these instructions to the test
In the hotel room a little later, Trev made a cup of tea and we decided to eat some complimentary biscuits. Trev read out what the choice was - Chocolate chip, shortbread or Tennessee Ginger biscuit. Well, I had never heard of the latter and opted for them at the same time thinking that it seemed unlikely that ginger was cultivated in tennessee. As we ate them I said "Arent't these supposed to be ginger?" "I thought so," said Trev."What does it say on the packet." I looked again and they were in fact Viennese Finger biscuits. Ah well they were nice.
Last night we had a lovely meal at a restaurant called Dock of the Bay. Here is a picture of Kieran and Alice sitting in the dock of the bay. Ho Ho Ho
(Seriously, I'm sure nobody has thought of that before.)
An excellent weekend with a lot of lovely food, entertaining board games and brilliant company

Outrage!

Well, OK maybe that's overstating it a bit but it is annoying. The hotel in the village where Kieran's wedding is taking place is hosting another wedding that day. Anyway, Alice's aunt and her family had booked three rooms there last year before the hotel had booked the wedding. But now the hotel has booted Alice's family out! How rude! So much for verbal agreements, eh?

Cat or Dog?

This morning, great joy, I worked from home. This allowed me the pleasure of walking to the local shop to buy a paper with my lovely wife. On the way we saw a man, with a black cat following him. As we passed, it sort of paused and gave us a look. We tittered, "it looks like that man is taking it for a walk - arf arf". Then we heard the man say "come on Boris"! So he was. So was that a man who wanted a dog, could only get a cat, but had trained it like a dog? Or was the look the cat gave us saying "he might think he's taking me for a walk, but I just decided to humour him again"?

If only it could talk......................

Former glory

Two of my best chums are teachers and during the holidays I book a day's holiday and we have a little tripette. Usually it is somewhere that will provide a nice lunch and have some historic buildings which we can saunter around and then somewhere else we can have a nice tea. I have just returend from Wisbech which is in north Cambridge deep in the fens. Ann and I had both seen the film Dean Spanley which was largely filmed there and decided it would be an interesting place for a day out.

It certainly is a handsome town with a wealth of Georgian housing as you can see from the pictures. But, my, it is in need of some tlc. It was obviously very wealthy in the 18th and 19th centuries when the port was thriving and it had two railway stations and a tramway. Indeed the Rev Audrey was inspired to write the Thomas the Tank engine books from the town. But now the railway and tramway are gone and the port is hardly vital. It has a marina but it doesn't seem to be bringing in much cash. It's full of pound shops and charity shops and virtually no chain stores or restaraunt. The roads to it are rubbish and it's not near any major conurbation. Many of the buildings are looking a bit sorry for themselves and I don't know how a town like that can recover. Mind you I should have known what to expect as a colleague called it Wisbekistan and a friend describe it as an armit.

That said we had a very nice day out. Peckover house and Octavia Hill's birthplace are very interesting and it is worth a visit in the unlikely event that you are ever in that partof the fens

Adam's birthday

Hi

Here are some photos and a video(if it ever finishes loading) of Adam's birthday lunch, which - despite the weather forecast - was a beautiful day (which is why we were eating in the garden)

Wedding date

Kate has said I can blog this, so we have a date booked for Kate and Carl's wedding.

It is going to be on 21 November at Court Colman Hotel which is north of Bridgend. I'm not sure when the invitations will be going out, that will be when they have finalised the guest list, which is currently too long - they always are at the beginning probably, but there are always also limitations on space and (even more crucially) budget. There is an award winning Indian restaurant attached to the house so they are going to have an Indian buffet for the dinner which is both different and also something which has Carl who is a real foodie and loves Indian food really excited.

Two weddings in one year! How exciting.

Little people

At the moment I am in love with this art Bascially, the artists puts these tiny installations all over London and photographs them then leaves them to their fate.

Fevered imagination

At the moment I have a cough. It's not so bad really but it is keeping me awake at night and it is in the middle of the night that any sense of proportion departs. The other night I must have had a temperature because one minute I was freezing and then the next I was boiling. At the same time any chance of dozing off was remote because I kept coughing. So in the small hours of the morning my imagination got the better of me and I decided that I must have malaria. A laboratory on the same floor as the library is working on malarial mosquitos and I decided that one of them must have escaped the biocontainment and bitten me. There could be no other explanation. Eventually, with the help of olbas oil I went to sleep and in the morning I realised what a silly moo I had been. Strange how different things can seem in the middle of the night

Extreme sheep herding

One of Erin's friends just showed me this on You Tube. I suspect there is much cleverness involved but I still love it.
Oh yes and a fascinator is a bunch of feathers stuck on an Alice Band

Personal shopping

I was flummoxed by the idea of finding an outfit for Kieran's wedding. I know what to wear at work or home or an evening out but really posh is a foreign country to me. Then I heard from Helen about John Lewis's personal shopping service -which is free! I decided to give it a go bringing Erin along to keep me in touch with reality. It was really excellent. Jan, our fashion advisor, took us to this fairly large room with armchairs and a changing area. She took down my detail and asked me what colours I liked and what was the occasion (as well as imparting a good deal about her own home life). Then we followed her around the fashion floor as she picked up things that I wouldn't even have tried on. We had two hours of her time and I settled on a nice dress and jacket. I knew it was going to go well when very early on I found the perfect shoes. However I am glad that I brought Erin as she dissuaded me from a dress that Jan liked a lot more than I did and I think I would have been too weak to say no on my own. Also when I tried on a fascinator Erin's tittering reminded me of the fact that Andy's reaction would have been tittering times 10! Though to be honest I don't think I would have gone down the fascinator route it did look a bit silly. All three of us agreed that the hat was a bad idea.
All in all an excellent service. I would recommend it although, of course, I went way over budget which is probably the idea!

Tea and family

Here we are in the pub, after the lovely tea at Fortum and Mason.

Here we are in Fortum and Mason having our tea
Here we are in Green Park on our way to tea

We had a great day. As Kate said - we packed an amazing amount into 1 day. Selfridges, Cabinet War rooms, Tea and a meeting in the pub, then home to cheese, wine and a film. And we lost an hour's sleep!

Great though - I really want to do it again next year.

Two nations divided by a single language

Our newspaper has just pointed out that there is an American TV programme starting here called The Mentalist (tee hee) and the first programme is directed by David Nutter! Ah That has made me smile all weekend!
Once again I am blogging about names!

Lots of pix of Llantwit

It was such a beautiful day that I went for a walk with the camera. These pix are on the blog but if you want to look at them they are on Picasa too

http://picasaweb.google.com/Cariadelen/LlantwitMajor?feat=directlink/

I hope

Sports

To be honest I have always been rubbish at sports. I wasn't always the last picked for teams as I was this height when I was 12 so I was often chosen as goalie in netball where I just stood in the way impressively. However, other than that it was never good. My PE teacher, Miss Tucker (who was lovely and a realist) once remarked that if only I could run as quickly on the tennis court as I did for the dinner queue I might have the makings of an athlete!
Out of the 5 of us siblings. The boys were quite sporty. Helen wasn't but 2 of her children are. But by the time it got to me there was nothing left in the gene pool for me and mine. It was a proud day in the Martin family when our children were put in the bottom set for PE at their High School. As Kieran remarked the bottom set was full of people who were too fat or too clever to be good at Sport. They seemed to spend their PE lessons being smart arses.
My school was far too small to have sets for PE. However by the fourth year (Yr10) we were allowed to choose which sport we did. The table tennis table was in a different room to the gym. So all the people who were too clever or too lazy to be good at sport (I can't really remember any fat girls and I admit I was lazy rather than clever) used to choose ping pong. Somebody would be lookout and we would simply sit round chatting for an hour or so unless Miss Tucker felt the need to look in on us.
Anyway, that is not to say that I don't do any exercise. I walk regularly and I go to Pilates once a week. I have done Pilates for several years and I think it keeps my stiff back moving. My Pilates teacher, Vicki, is lovely and has an excellent sense of humour. During Tuesday's class we were on the floor waving our legs around in some tortuous manner. Vicki said. "if you find this hard then you can lower your leg a little" I didn't need to be told twice and my raised leg was quickly a millimetre above the floor. Unfortunately Vicki was passing and said. "Choosing the lazy way,Frances?" and hoicked it higher again. Later in the class we were doing some complicated stretch during which I had entirely lost the plot. Vicki happened to be passing then. "Arm straight Frances! Ah your such a challenge to me!"
See nothing changes! She would get on well with Miss Tucker!

A moan

I am fed up with housework. I've got to be honest, it's not my strong point. I do have a bit of a weird obsessive compulsive in me in that I like things to be in their proper place or in neat little piles and get irritated when they're not. But actual dusting and getting into the corners is not my favourite past time. Which is a shame as it seems to need doing ALL the time! As soon as it's done it needs doing again! I work pretty hard (most of the time) during the week and just do not want to spend my weekends sweeping and hoovering and dusting and all that other crap. This weekend for example I went away to my friend Emilie's to help her celebrate her 30th birthday. I had a great time, came home tired and hungover and managed to ignore any gathering dust. I then go to work this morning, work all day, come home and go for a run with the dog and just as I am planning to settle down for the night and watch last night's Lost, I suddenly start noticing how dusty everything is and spend the next hour cleaning because I can't bear it - argh!!! I can't be alone in being completely and utterly fed up with this? Maybe I should just try and be like my friend Lyndsey who takes great pleasure in cleaning?

Anyway, moan over and in the mean time here's some pictures of me and my friends from university dressed up in an 80s theme for Emilie's birthday at the weekend. I decided to channel Joan Collins in a Dynasty stylee...nice. However despite the fact we look horrendous it was a lot more fun than bloody dusting :)

Visit to Crufts

Nicky and I went to Crufts yesterday and had a very nice day , pottering around and seeing lots and lots of different dogs. Here is a boxer who has clearly had enough of being on show and is having a nap.Here are some Pharoah hounds who are very intent on the lady preparing their dinner which is why they are so fixed on the same thing - they got chicken for dinner, which is better than what was on offer for the humans.
Here is a collie who is clearly interested in something going on down the aisle.
And finally here is the new love of Nicky's life. When we got to the corgis she was astonished that she had never met one before, and was totally smitten with the Pembrokeshire ones, like this one below. The are very fox like in the face, with huge bat ears and very bright, alert eyes. They have stopped docking their tails now, and they have lovely long bushy tails. Nic wants one. They are very cute, and as they were cattle dogs, will run and run for hours and can do agility courses and all sorts, which is a bit surprising as they have such short legs. We saw other Heelers (cattle dogs which nip the heels of the cattle, but are so low to the ground that if the cow kicks the kick goes over the top of them) from other countries and they are all the same basic shape, which was interesting.
It was interesting to see so many different breeds, a few of which I had never heard of. There were also loads of stalls selling all sorts of things. They had collars and leads covered with different colour diamante so you could have the ultimate bling dog if you wanted. Nic managed to get a fitted waxed jacket that she has been looking for for a while as well as a really nice waistcoat/bodywarmer and 2 shirts. When she goes racing and is leading the horse round the parade ring they have to dress smartly, and these will fit the bill admirably. They were all greatly reduced as well, so she had a very successful day indeed.

Blue screen

This is a picture of Helen, Brian and us at St Donat's at New Year. We propped the camera on a rock to take the photo so it''s a bit lob sided. But the back ground looks like a blue screen. It is as if you could substitute the Bristol Channel with the Taj Mahal if you so wish!

Blog for Helen

I have started a blog - just our of curiosity to see if I can keep it up and find something to write.

http://wordbywordwales.blogspot.com/

Here is the url if anyone is interested. (it's not very exciting)

Pigeons

This weekend we had a lovely weekend in Woodstock (Oxfordshire not the famous festival place). Very nice it was too. I would post pictures but Trev was having trouble down loading them. Anyway they were mostly of our walks around Stowe and Blenheim. Very pretty too but there is plenty on the internet if you want to see pictures of them. Anwyay, on the way home we were a bit Stately Homed Out so we went to Bletchley Park, which is where the code breakers were based in the second World War. A very interesting place it is too. Enthusiasts have reconstructed the early computers by salvaging valves and transformers from machines. A real labour of love. One thing I learned this time was of the use of pigeons during war. No longer will I curse pigeons as flying rats because they are remarkable birds. Basically they would parachute them in to occupied territory and the resistance would use them to send messages to the UK. The Germans were aware of this and it was illegal in Nazi occupied territory to be in possession of a pigeon unless you had a licence and you could be executed if you were found with one. They had troups positioned on the coast whose job it was to shoot pigeons.
At Bletchley they have an excellent video telling you all this. It says the War office recruited the finest pigeons available. I just like the idea of a kind of James Bond pigeon. All a bit Nick Parks really!

Sticks and stones....

I don't know what it is about funny names that amuse me so much but they do. I discovered at the weekend that the two turkeys that wander around the yard at the farmshop we go to are called Phillip and Clive. Brilliant names. And Erin has a friend who has a cat called Ian! Sort of inappropriate but brilliant at the same time. I was most amused by this article on the BBC. I was telling a collegue about it and he said there were a family called the Gotobeds and they lived in Little Snoring! Perfection!

Brian has a car

Brian has a new car too now. Also 29k miles for a diesel VW Passat estate which he also got last week, so we are terribly posh now. My new car does 50 miles to the gallon on a sedate motorway drive!

Isn't it nice that Slumdog Millionaire has done so well in the Oscars? It is such a brilliant film I am really glad that something with no political axe to grind in Hollywood has done so well.

I am going to Cheltenham on Saturday to look at a shop selling office chairs for people with bad backs to see if I can find something I really like, and then persuade my boss to buy it for me. You really need to sit in them, and some of them look really odd on the screen. It should be entertaining anyway.

Day in Oxford

We had a day out in Oxford yesterday, because we were going to see a new music theatre piece by George Benjamin - which was excellent and well worth the trip. We had a good potter around and the weather was pleasantly springlike which made it very enjoyable. As a Cambridge girl I don't think Oxford is a beautiful as Cambridge, and there are a lot of houses which have been badly modernised and there is a lot less green than in Cambridge because the river is much less of a feature and the old colleges aren't together in the same way. Also there was a serious shortage of tea shops. Cafes, but not tea shops! However we did have a lovely potter and here are some pics

This guy looks very like the mad hatter and has a lovely triangular drainpipe







Brian in the street - just to prove we were there.

The view from the street - if you are not one of the elite you can see through the bars or...


The view from inside

And finally

A lovely lopsided door to add to my collection. One of a group of Flemish weavers cottages now turned into a hotel.

New car

Ooops - I am getting a new car. we were looking online for a new car for Brian whose car is really doddering now, and I saw the Honda Jazz on a local website and said 'that's what I want'. We went out to look at cars for Brian (didn't find one) but I did drive and am buying the Honda. It is 2004 but only 29000 miles on the clock, and is silver and lovely. It is a bit earlier than I had intended to replace my car, but it is what I wanted and it is a good price so..... roll on Wednesday. We are still looking for a car for Brian.

Kate and I have been looking at wedding venues and saw 2 really nice ones yesterday which have gone to the top of the heap, and Kate and Carl are going back today so Carl can see them. In fact I am going to phone Kate now to see how they got on.

love
Helen

Cambridge

Cambridge is our nearest city and there are few more beautiful cities. This year the university is celebrating it's 800th birthday! Happy Birthday Cam Uni! It is also celebrating Darwin's 200th birthday! Go Charlie. It also got a very snazzy new clock last year on an outside wall of Corpus Christi College. It is about 12 foot and quite the eye catcher (you do have to sit through an ad if you go to that link)
Anyway, today we had reason to visit this fair city. Trev had to go shopping for my birthday, which is very important indeed! I went along for the nice lunch and to have a pootle round the shops myself. One of the things I needed to buy was a new toilet brush so I went into John Lewis's and was amazed to find there was one for sale for £61!!!!! Really, I would want it to do the cleaning for me. Surprisingly, I opted for the one that cost £4. I mean if ever there was a utilitarian household object that's it. Surely, nobody is going to go into your loo and come out and say "What a beautiful toilet brush, pray what art gallery did you purchase it from?"
I was also looking out for a 21st birthday present for Erin's friend, Heather, whom I have known nearly all her life. I had by now moved to the kitchen department and saw the perfect thing. Onion goggles! You wear them them to prevent crying while peeling and chopping onions. Who wouldn't want that, both amusing and practical. I bought them forthwith but now I've got them home I think they may be too silly even for a present from me. Also I thought it was the smell of onions that made your eyes water. Ah well, back to the drawing board.
Finally, Cambridge has many a famous alumni. But two of them:

Rory McGrath and Stephen Hawking

I see around the city more than I see anybody I know. OK, so Stephen Hawking is rather visible when you're at a restaurant or in the cinema.
But Rory McGrath! He's a bit of blokey bloke, incase you don't know him and a twit really. I think he's following me. We saw him today. But even more weird we saw him on holiday in Cornwall last year. Spooky

Why are people so stupid?

I am watching the news in the worst snow we have had in the UK for 18 years (the Canadians wouldn't notice it but...). And 2 brothers decided to go walking up Mount Snowden. They did it in the summer and wanted to do it again. In this weather! They have died, despite all the endeavors of the rescue teams. But what were they thinking? People get stuck on Snowden and on the Brecon Beacons in the summer, and they go out in the coldest weather we have had all winter with snow forecast - it is utter madness. I know that British mountains aren't big by comparison with other countries, and that people feel we are such a small island that you are never far from civilisation, but people get lost every year on the Beacons in the summer, let alone in the winter. There is a very good reason why the SAS train in the beacons, and any mountain where you have fog, snow and wind is dangerous and not a place for the unwary. I feel very sorry for those brothers and even more sorry for their families, but the rescue teams are at risk in this weather when they go out to rescue people who are just being stupid and irresponsible. It is wrong.

There - end of rant. I hope Chris and co are basking in the sun and enjoying it while the rest of us shiver
in the cold.

Nicky is going to work with so many layers on (she is working outdoors) that she is at least a dress size bigger by the time she leaves the house. She was sitting here tonight under a duvet on the sofa with her warm hat on as well, (and the heating is on and I am not wearing a coat and hat) which is entertaining. Adam who normally just wears a t shirt all year round, had conceded that it is winter and is wearing a jumper.

It is snowing here now, though we didn't have any till this evening. Wait and see what tomorrow brings, though we aren't forecast to get much thankfully.

Basket

Last night we went to a Ceilidh. We decided it was a good idea as that will be the evening entertainment at Kieran and Alice's wedding and we are also going to a 60th birthday party which will be a ceilidh. We went with Alice's parents and Sue and John the former is the birthday girl. We all thought we would get some practice in before we had to do it in public.
It was one of the most fun evenings we have had. Honestly, I have the coordination of a headless chicken but I could cope with this one. (Those of you horrified by this there is another room in Great Chesterford community centre you can escape to.)
However there was one dance in which the caller said we had to do a basket. It involved the men putting their arm around the woman's waist and the woman putting her arm around the mans shoulder. Then you joined with the couple opposite and spun round fast. The idea was that the ladies feet would leave the ground during this spin. As you know I am not petite and did not think this was a great idea and neither did Trevor. However the guy opposite (in a kilt) had other ideas and goodness he was strong. I just about managed to keep my feet on the ground but he certainly made that a fast spin. It was quite hilarious. However, if the caller in May says there will be a basket - I'm out of there!
Finally, Ceilidh! Irish or Scottish? I had always assumed the former but lots of people asked me if I was celebrating Burns night when I told them I was going and there were two men in kilts. The band was Irish so I am going to keep it to the Emerald Isle

Accommodation continued

I daresay most people are sorted but here are a few more suggestions. Can I just say I am amazed that nobody corrected my spelling of accommodation in the previous blog (now corrected)
OK for those on a tight budget there is something called Cityroomz opposite the station in Cambridge. It is very basic but very convenient.
There is another b & B in Ickleton. Shepherds Cottage
You can also look at the district council site for other places.
Also there is a youth hostel in Saffron Walden which offers pretty good value.
The Crown House in Great Chesterford is now fully booked as there is another wedding.

Doctor says not to exercise

It is official. I should not be doing exercises at the moment. I started off my new year resolutions by getting up and doing half an hour every weekday morning when I went back to work on 5 Jan, and was getting on well till the Friday, when I got a pain in my neck and shoulder which got worse on Sunday and Monday, so I went to the doctor on Wednesday. Also, at the beginning of December I tripped and fell, landing on my left knee and it was very sore to touch (not surprisingly) and I couldn't kneel on it or rub it hard with a towel etc. However it seemed to be improving until the week of exercise when, on the Sunday night, it started to feel more sore as well.

Basically I have pulled a muscle in my neck/shoulder and aggravated my sore knee, so she told me not to to any more of the dvds until everything was back to normal. So now I can lie in bed and only do my usual 10 minutes of back exercises with a completely clear conscience because I am under medical orders!!! So I don't even really feel that I am breaking my new year resolution either.

Both knee and shoulder were on the left side, so I felt fine on one side and a wreck on the other - bizarre really. However I can recommend the heat pads you get in the supermarket that stick to your clothes and say they last 12 hours. They reallydo, and they really help. I love them to bits!!

love Helen

Accommodation

This is linked to an email and it is basically a list of places to stay in the Chesterford area.
In Great Chesterford itself there is the Crown House Hotel. This is opposite the church and a 5 minute walk from the reception. I don't know people who have stayed in it and it gets fairly mixed reviews on the web but it is convenient.
The next village along is Hinxton. And you can stay in the accommodation block at my work!!! There is accommodation in Hinxton Hall which I believe is quite nice as well as the accommodation block which is fairly basic. It is reasonably priced but the lady I spoke to at work today said it does get booked up early. It would appear that I don't get staff discount.You can also book this through agencies if you google hotels in Saffron Walden.
Also in Hinxton there is the Red Lion. It is a very nice pub but it has only just started doing rooms so I have had no feed back from anyone about what they are like. They are charging £75 a single and £95 a double. So not particularly cheap.
This takes us to Saffron Walden which I always find a bit disappointing for hotel rooms. The best bets are the Saffron Hotel and Archways Guest House. Which are Ok. If you are staying there then let me know andwe can arrange transport.
There are some nice b and bss around if you want to drive. People at work recommended New Inn House at Ickleton (yes, that really is the name of a village, not baby talk) the Watermill at Hildersham or Newdegate House in Wimbish (yes that too is the name of a village not an ailement).
Finally, you might find somewhere else just by googling and it might be perfectly nice. Also Great Chesterford is on the main line between Liverpool St and Cambridge. London has endless possibilities and Cambridge is not short of the odd hotel. There is the most hideous Travel Lodge about a 10 minute walk from the station in Cambridge. I like to think of it as a little bit of Harlow in the beautiful City of Cambridge. OK I'm being a snob but that photo makes it look good!
Oh yes, there is a camp site in Great Chesterford too. My freind Jill will be staying there when we are not abusing our friendship by using her camper van to transport things.

Resolutions and all that

So as usual my new year's resolutions include the perennial favourites of getting fitter and losing more weight and I read a great article about failing a bit better each year which I thought was a more positive way of looking at things if you try but don't necessary reach your goal: http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2009/jan/06/healthandwellbeing

But to that end I have set myself a goal which is to run a half marathon and I've just entered the ballot for the 2009 Great North Run - eek! The draw is done next week so I won't find out until the week after whether I've got a place or not. But even if I don't get a place I will enter another half marathon and I shall be raising money for Cancer Research UK. I'll keep you posted on whether or not I get a place....

My other resolutions, if you're interested, are:
1) Run a half marathon
2) Lose a dress size (hopefully resolution 1 aids the progress of resolution 2)
3) Go somewhere hot on holiday (got to have a nice one in there!)
4) Read more classic books that I should have read by now and not always just re-read Harry Potter and Jilly Cooper whenever I reach a reading impasse
5) Start a pension (if after some research I find out that's actually worth doing anymore)

Anybody else got anything they want to achieve in 2009?
Love Kate xxxx

The best things come to those who wait...

...so after 11 and a half years, Carl is making an honest woman out of me - on New Year's Day he proposed and of course I said yes :) I'm absolutely thrilled! And just in case you fear your eyes might be deceiving you after all this time, here's a pic of my lovely ring!

Not sure about actual wedding plans yet, initial thoughts are we might try and do something at the end of this year but will obviously keep everybody posted. Plans to make Saffy a ring bearer or bridesmaid (I've had friends ask me whether she'll be both) remain unsubstantiated at present....

Oh and happy new year to you all, hope you enjoyed the festive period and I hope for all your sakes you didn't eat and drink as much as me!
Love Kate xxxx

In the cold

Boy is it cold currently. I am in the computer room (a room in our house containing the computer and all the discarded Christmas packaging that won't fit in the bin) which is not well heated or insulated. Boo and Erin are in the warm lounge with their netbook and laptop respectively. Maybe I should just dig out my work laptop and join them. Then we can all sit on the same room MSNing each other. Is that a verb?

Modern technology eh, it brings families out of the cold...............

Horses

Most Saturdays we go to visit Trev's mum in her nursing home and on those Saturdays we watch horse racing on her TV (It is Newmarket). We are now almost experts on matters equine and maybe we will earn a living becoming the new Dick Francis. When we have made a fortune obviously we will have to buy a horse with the many millions of pounds we make. What amuses us is to imagine the name of the horse. In the UK a horse's name can have 18 characters but if it is all 18 characters there can't be any spaces. There are some very silly names out there. We have toyed with the idea of calling our future horse A Whisker so then the rider who came second to our horse could say they were beaten by a whisker. Similary we could call it by a nose or a short head. However our favourite choice is Neck and Neck Thus giving the commentator the chance to say it's Neck and Neck neck and neck with Red Rum........
Better get writing that novel!

Fancy dress party

My friend from university Lucy turned 30 at the weekend and had a party in Devon, where she lives, to celebrate. The genius theme of the fancy dress party was that everyone had to come dressed as a song title, which I thought was brilliant as there's a huge amount of scope to be quite creative. I ended up going as 'Purple Rain' by Prince, mainly because I had a new purple dress I wanted to wear so needed to theme my outfit around that. However I did get quite creative with the cardboard and the sellotape to create the rain element of my ensemble (that's a cloud on my head by the way...just in case you were wondering...)
There were some really brilliant costumes though, my favourite being a guy who came in full Arab regalia and had a long string around his neck with a rattle tied one end and a bread roll tied to the other - so he was 'Shake, Rattle and Roll' (or more accurately, 'Sheikh, Rattle and Roll'). Loved it. Below are some of the other girls including Cath (far left - 'Killer Queen'), Emilie (middle - 'Moulin Rouge') and Lucy the birthday girl (far right - 'Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds') who had the pleasure of living with me for 3 years at Aston. So was a fun party and a great excuse for a bit of a reunion. Love Kate xxxx

It'll be lonely this Christmas...

...well, it won't really be that lonely as I'll be going to mum's, but Carl won't be here to join in the festivities as the RAF in their infinite wisdom have chosen to send him to the Middle East for Yule. Booooo. However, he's out of harms way and apparently gets some form of Christmas present from the Queen - how exciting!

And of course I've got Saffy to keep me company too. Now once upon a time when Saffy lived at mum's, she was used to living under a tough regime, ruled by mum's iron fist. In this world she spent lonely nights sleeping in the kitchen and had to perch on the floor whilst the family watched TV. However, now she lives in clover at our house - sitting on sofas, sleeping on beds and all sorts. And spoilt pooch that she is, mum has now relaxed the fist of iron when Saffy goes to hers and has turned into a form of spoiling grandmother! Saff now gets loads of biccies (thanks Brian) gets bought huge bones (thanks Nicky) and even gets to sit on the sofa (gasp!). And when she came back recently she even had a new collar that mum had bought for her. So here are some pics of her modelling said collar in festive red - apparently Saff wasn't being very decisive in the pet shop between a blue one or a red one so mum had to make the ultimate decision :) Suits her don't you think?

Love Kate xxxx

P.S You can really tell how much Saffy loves having her photo taken.